The Earth is merely doing its thing in its own time frame. Humans live for a short blink of time compared to the age of the Earth, so any human will see a very few geological phenomenon in their lifetime. This is not mysterious. It is not an omen or precursor to end times or quickening or 2012 or anything else that superstitious or overly jealous people want to believe. Every once in a while Mother Earth sneezes or burps and a few million animals die. Or maybe a large meteor bumps into Earth and a few thousand species go extinct. This is normal and has been taking place for millions upon millions of years. Relax. This is nothing new.